Centennial Throwback: Fruitful Favorites

After their arrival from the Calcutta Zoo in 1940, a pair of African river hippos quickly became popular with Zoo visitors during the war years. Rube and Rubie loved to devour watermelons and their method was quite a spectacle, but perhaps their greatest legacy was their “power couple” status. The pair produced 11 offspring together, and they are immortalized today as two of the Zoo’s favorite costumed characters.

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